“Distinguished Mrs. Minister,

I am truly delighted to welcome you and your delegation to Armenia today. Of course, we have had the opportunity to meet before on various international platforms, but this marks your first visit to Armenia. It is with great pleasure that I host you here and gladly accept your invitation to visit Tbilisi.

Dear colleagues,

In 2024, Armenia-Georgia relations saw significant and tangible progress. We have signed the document on strategic partnership, made this decision, and officially became strategic partners this year.

It must be acknowledged that the relationship between our two countries and our two peoples has, in essence, always been of a strategic partnership nature for centuries. However, this new document and the new official status of our relations open new opportunities to further strengthen our partnership not only in political dialogue and economic cooperation, but also in other fields, including humanitarian, education,  science and beyond.

Together with Minister Botchorishvili, we have reviewed our joint achievements over the past year and outlined our priorities for the near future. We are pleased to note that there is a genuinely strong dialogue at both the highest and high levels between Armenia and Georgia, including between our Foreign Ministries. Naturally, we have also pursued our institutional interests, ensuring strong cooperation, regular contact, and official consultations between our ministries. I believe that the next round of these consultations should be hosted by Armenia. We will gladly do so. Of course, we have also discussed economic and transit transportation issues, and here we should mention the huge potential of the South Caucasus, including both Armenia and Georgia.

When we talk about transit through the South Caucasus, we must also mention Azerbaijan. You are all aware of the initiative by the Republic of Armenia in this context: the “Crossroads of Peace” initiative, which envisions active economic and transport cooperation among the three countries, not just three, but also cooperation in a larger region with the participation of other countries as well. Within the framework of this initiative, we have also made a proposal regarding the unblocking of transport infrastructure in the framework of our negotiations with Azerbaijan, in the process of normalization of relations. And, of course, we are ready to finalize the process of normalization of relations with Azerbaijan both in this and other directions, which you are all actually aware of, I won't mention all of them.

The position of our government remains the same: we are committed and will pursue the peace agenda, this applies to both the peace treaty, the unblocking of transport infrastructure, and delimitation. You know there are also achievements and agreements in the process of border delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We also have faith and commitment to the border delimitation process between Armenia and Georgia, and we are ready to continue this process.

I will conclude here. Once again, I am very happy to host you in Armenia, dear colleague, and I am confident that this is only the beginning of our journey together."

Question (Armenpress): “Mr. Mirzoyan, President of Azerbaijan Aliyev stated the day before yesterday that Armenia has not fulfilled its obligation to provide an unhindered connection between Azerbaijan mainland and Nakhichevan. What would be your response?”

Answer (Ararat Mirzoyan): “There is nothing new here: the position of the Republic of Armenia has long been publicly stated, we support the idea of unblocking transport infrastructures, we have come up with and made quite constructive proposals to Azerbaijan. We expect a positive attitude from Azerbaijan as well. We are confident that unblocking, under the conditions and in the manner we envision, will bring significant economic and other benefits to the entire region: the South Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, and, of course, Georgia. Broadly speaking, our approach is reflected in the “Crossroads of Peace” initiative. If you are familiar with it, you will know that it is based on fundamental principles such as the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, as well as the application of national legislation to infrastructure within each country’s territory. Naturally, we also recognize that the 21st century is an era of simplifications and logistical facilitation, where all nations seek to ease transit procedures. With Azerbaijan as well, once transport links are unblocked, we foresee certain simplified procedures that could be applied, bringing benefits to both us and Azerbaijan. So, I am not saying anything new: our position remains unchanged.

As for your first question, although it was addressed to my colleague, I will briefly say in one sentence: I believe it is still a bit early to assess the achievements of the strategic partnership, as we established this format only a few months ago. However, overall, the achievements of cooperation between Armenia and Georgia, which have always been of a strategic nature, are numerous and cannot be exhaustively listed.”

Responding to a question from the Georgian “Imedi” news agency regarding the work of the Armenia-Georgia Intergovernmental Commission, Minister Mirzoyan noted: “This is an extremely important format, and the work being carried out is quite intensive, as can be seen from the timeline. The frequency and regularity of meetings also reflect this, and the agenda is always very full, this time as well. However, when it comes to discussing the Commission itself, we, both foreign ministers, will nevertheless leave that to the Chairs of the Commission, the prime ministers of our two countries. Of course, we will participate in the discussions.”